The class system of FF XI has intrigued me for many, many years but one thing after another kept me from hopping on board. (No credit card, too many expansions, rumors of impossible to solo, rumors of pirated game codes possibly invalidating your unopened purchase, not able to "try before you buy" because of said pirated codes, ect.)

But since I now both have a credit card and the expansions are only $20 for everything I was wondering if the game was still pretty active for a P2P game or if it's starting to reach the "dead" levels of many F2P MMOs out there (aka: semi-dead during non-peak hours, so many non English players that you can't talk to anyone, ect.) Is it worth possibly getting into?

If you order FFXI on steam, I believe you can get EVERYTHING for a whopping 5 bucks still, if not 10 bucks, though this doesn't cover abyssea add ons sadly. Otherwise, I logged in last night to get booted from my ls of 5 months from some random douchebag, so I lost any faith I once had in it. But now is a good time to play, as the populations are up, the difficulty has died in it, and getting exp is cake now. There's a lot of content that's easy to access now thanks to the recent changes in exp accrual and skilling up, and most of the high end gear isn't completely stupid to obtain. If you're bored and need something to do, give it a shot, 5 bucks for a free month and the game can't hurt.

But since I now both have a credit card and the expansions are only $20 for everything I was wondering if the game was still pretty active for a P2P game or if it's starting to reach the "dead" levels of many F2P MMOs out there (aka: semi-dead during non-peak hours, so many non English players that you can't talk to anyone, ect.) Is it worth possibly getting into?

This is difficult. I can't speak to what the experience might be like for a BRAND NEW player in 2011. Right now I think the game is better than it's ever been, and leveling from 1 to 90 is a lot easier than 1 to 75 was when I started in 2006. But the fact is that there are less players now than there were then, and a LOT less people that would be at the same place as you. You would benefit greatly from having a friend that can "mentor" you along the way, help you duo through some of the uglier leveling spots.

Depending on job, though, you can easily solo to about 60 and then Abyssea-alliance your way from there.

I would recommend you get into it. I think it's a great MMORPG with so much wonderful content to explore.

Your other option if you're an FF nut is to wait until FFXIV comes out of life support (hopefully for the better). It could be a totally new / awesome experience by time of PS3 launch (which I estimate as being Christmas 2011 or January 2012, based solely on gut instinct). But it's your call.

Thanks for the recommendations. Since it's only $5 via Steam I'm currently downloading it to give it a try. Here's hoping I don't get lost trying to even play the thing. >.<; Their site for it has always confused me...

Heh, I'm still at the point where the software is updated after obtaining the Content ID. You know a patch is huge when you start it; get absorbed playing Civ V to the point where you look up and realize it might've been done hours ago, only to find it's at 90%. XD